Friday, October 23, 2015

His Majesty the King Jigme Khesar
Namgyel Wangchuck in his address to the nation said:

“The Fourth Druk Gyalpo is our precious gem, the unfaltering
parent and the god to whom we can rely and prostrate….In the history of Bhutan,
no King like Him was ever born, and will not be born again in the future. His
actions are not historic just for Bhutan, but even for the world.”

The Fourth Druk Gyalpo His
Majesty the King Jigme Singye Wangchuck is a destined manifestation of an
enlightened being. His Majesty is the symbol of unity, and one of the most
important sources of inspiration to all Bhutanese. To ensure that the unity of
people in the country is promoted in the future, it is very important for every
Bhutanese of both present and future generations to hold him as an idol- a true
patriot of Bhutan.His Majesty’s
achievements are timeless, and generations will stand to benefit from His
Majesty’s wisdom, policies and sacrifices.

His Majesty’s reign brought
unprecedented peace and progress to Bhutan. With the establishment of a just
society, the people of Bhutan enjoyed unprecedented justice. In body, mind and
speech, His Majesty had Bhutan for thirty-four years. Therefore, as we
celebrate the 60th Birth Anniversary of His Majesty, this is the
perfect moment and befitting opportunity for us to honour His Majesty’s
selfless services to the nation, His continued inspiration – the shining
guiding light, and for gifting us the Constitution – the culmination of His
life’s work.

The Pillar is made firstly, to
ensure that every Bhutanese remain reminded of and inspired by His Majesty’s
achievement and selfless services for all generations to come. Secondly, to
remind ourselves of Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s success in achieving unprecedented
development in very short span of time, by selflessly working for the country
and the people, in His thirty-four years of reign. Thirdly, as a priceless
object or a relic for faculty and students of the law school to pray and pay
homage, and to inspire them to work hard in achieving His Majesty’s aspiration
of ensuring access to justice by promoting foundation of justice and the rule
of law.

The Pillar is the tree of life of
the law school, and it is the beacon of our land, the shining sun – the wheel
of Dharma Law, which will remind us of the fact that the sun gives life, the
tree bears fruits of labour, and the fearless lion can defend and protect the
sovereignty of the nation.

The Pillar is incomparable to His
Majesty’s achievements of showering happiness, well-being and unity of the
people, and security and sovereignty, identity and economic development of our
country, however, it is made to show our deepest respect to His Majesty the
Fourth Druk Gyalpo. The Pillar also represents the Royal Institute of Law
family’s prayers for His Majesty’s life, wisdom and deeds to live forever like
letters in-scripted on the stone.

Painting of the JSW Pillar

Detail Description

It is a four-faced and
twelve-edged pillar. The four-faced pillar signifies birth of His Majesty the
living god in Bhutan as the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, identification of the four
pillars of the Gross National Happiness, and spreading or reaching of His
Majesty’s priceless deeds to all four directions. Similar to the ability of the
Tree of Jewel to bear continuous desired fruits of jewels, it is the Pillar of
Strength signifying that the people of all four directions are able to enjoy
the result of His Majesty’s selfless services to the nation, that is, the
country’s sovereignty, peace, development, co-existence, unity, happiness and
well-being of the people.

The 12-edges in the Pillar
signify that the His Majesty’s achievement and reforms brought in governance is
nothing short of twelve deeds – Zhepa-Chunyi of the Lord Buddha.

The Pillar is placed on
Mandala-like platform and there are four paths leading to it. On the throne of
the Pillar, there is carving of four lions. The four paths symbolises four
noble truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering,
and path that is, the eightfold path of right view, right intention, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and
right mindfulness. Lion symbolises His Majesty the King Jigme Singye
Wanghchuck. Together, these symbolises descending of enlightened King Jigme
Singye Wangchuck from the heaven to worldly earth as prophesied by Ugyen Guru
to Terton Drukda Dorji. The pillar that is made from stone symbolises, taking
charge of very heavy national responsibilities at the very young age of sixteen
and His Majesty’s ability to shoulder these responsibilities, which are heavier
than weight taken by any pillar of the building.

On top of the Pillar, there is
this sun-like appearing Dharma Wheel with thirty-four spokes. In general Khorlo
signifies the Golden Throne. Specifically, it symbolises His Majesty’s ability
to envision needs of the country and the people, and by turning both spiritual
and political wheels in thirty-four years of His reign, His Majesty has secured
the nation and brought unprecedented happiness to the people.

Khorlo is placed above the Zhu
that is covered with clouds showing supremacy of the Throne and clarity in
oceans of His Majesty’s actions. It also symbolises ability to overcome all
kinds of challenges, secure sovereignty and security, and bringing glory to
nation by rising above the clouds. The Jewel surrounded by clouds in the Zhu
signifies efforts made by the people of Bhutan to celebrate the 60th
Birth Anniversary of His Majesty the King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

The lotus, beads, leaves and
hanging jewels symbolises the Tree of Jewel signifying formulation of the Gross
National Happiness by His Majesty, showering uninterrupted happiness and
development to the people and the country. The Jewel surrounded by clouds
symbolises the confidence, the admiration, and the respect people, both within
and outside Bhutan, have for His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. His Majesty
has become the spiritual leader – the Jewel for people.

At four corners of the Pillar’s
throne, there are four Dungkars. These Dungkars symbolises
spreading of His Majesty’s kindness and results of unparalleled actions to all
four directions reaching out to people in each and every corner of the country.

The Pillar stems from His Majesty
Jigme Singye Wangchuck. It makes an attempt to relate His Majesty’s name to His
resolute strength and selflessness. His Majesty’s name symbolises his fearlessness
and un-biasedness, and possession of eight mighty powers – Wangchuck Gye.
Italso signifies offering of sincere
prayer by the people for His Majesty’s good health and long life.

Achievement
Inscriptions

རྒྱལ་ཁམས་བསྟན་སྲིད་སྲོག་ཤིང་ལྟ་བུ་ཡི།།

རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོའི་མ་འོངས་ལམ་སྟོན་མཛད།།

His Majesty the Fourth Druk
Gyalpo in His thirty-four years of reign has given equal importance to both
spiritual and temporal aspects of our nation. It has been our very unique
identity ever since unification process of Bhutan started with the arrival of Zhabdrung
Ngawang Namgyel. Despite the numerous challenges He had to face, His
Majesty gave us the tree of life-like Constitution which shall guide us through
our future and secure the sovereignty of nation for all times to come.

In His coronation address, His
Majesty said:

“As far as you, my
people are concerned, you should not adopt the attitude that whatever is
required to be done for your welfare will be done entirely by the government.
On the contrary, a little effort on your part will be much more effective than
a great deal of effort on the part of the government.”

He made very clear that people’s
participation is very important if we are to forge ahead together. To enable
people’s participation, His Majesty began devolving power starting with decentralizing
administrative powers to local government in 1981, introducing the Dzongkhag
Yargay Tshogchung, and in 1991, the Gewog Yargay Tshogchung. In
1998, the National Assembly elected the Cabinet, and executive powers of the
King were handed over to them.

On 4th September 2001,
he briefed government officials on the need to draft a Constitution for the
Kingdom of Bhutan. He initiated the drafting of the Constitution, constituting
a 39 member drafting committee, and revised and created the Constitution to
introduce a system of democracy, and it’s safeguards for our country and
people.

He desired that the people take
on the Constitution as our own and hold it as a reflection of our hopes,
aspirations, and guiding light for the future.A public referendum took place, when His Majesty and His Majesty the
Fifth King took the Constitution to the 20 Dzongkhags where a member of each
household was represented.

When we look back, we now know
that what was happening to us was all part of a plan- we were being prepared
and gradually transformed as a nation.Almost in cycles that came every decade, a meticulous plan was patiently
charted out, that culminated in the introduction of democracy for our country.

He put in place almost everything
that is required to make democracy vibrant. The grounds had been prepared.We were ready. Education was given highest
priority, a well-experienced cabinet had been groomed, grassroots had been
empowered, and the people had embraced a new order. The Judiciary had been
strengthened. The Election Commission was established to ensure free and fair
elections. The Anti-Corruption Commission to curb and root out corruption from
the very beginning. Media was given autonomy and free press was introduced.

མི་སེར་ཕན་བདེའི་ལེགས་ཚོགས་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས།།

དཔལ་འབྱོར་རང་ལྡང་མཐའ་དབུས་ཁྱབ་སྤེལ་མཛད།།

One of the basis for prosperity
of the people is economic self-reliance. Keeping this in mind, His Majesty
ensured equal development throughout the nation. In addition to
decentralisation, His Majesty made reforms in private sector development
policies. To ensure development in agriculture sector to promote people’s
self-sufficiency, His Majesty granted kidus to the people, starting from
seeds, lands, agriculture machineries, and tools. Above everything, His Majesty
adopted the middle-path strategy of sustainable development to ensure balanced
growth without endangering scarce natural resources and pristine environment.

དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པའི་མཛད་པ་རླབས་ཆེན་གྱིས།།

འབྲུག་གི་རང་བཙན་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟན་ཐབས་མཛད།།

His Majesty’s wisdom of past, present and future, and perfect
execution of plans and policies has secured the sovereignty of our nation. In
the time of difficulties and threat to nation, His Majesty had His body, mind
and speech dedicated to it.His
exemplary vision, unparalleled ideas, and the resolute strength helped over
come all challenges and difficulties faced by the nation.In 1995 three groups of Indian militants set
up camps in Bhutanese soil illegally. Over the years, they had established 30
camps within the territory of Bhutan threatening the security and undermining
the sovereignty of Bhutan. We negotiated for many years for peaceful
dissolution of these camps. His Majesty himself took the lead in these
negotiations, visiting each and every camp and talking to their leaders.These missions were dangerous, and were
undertaken regardless of the risks. With eminent threat to our people and as
peaceful negotiations did not materialize, a difficult decision was made to
protect our country’s sovereignty and security. On 15 December 2003, we went to
battle- a day that would decide the future of Bhutan. His Majesty himself led
the troops to battle to flush out the militants from our country.

ཆོས་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་སྔར་ཁྱུན་ལམ་སྲོལ་སོགས།།

རྒྱལ་ཁམས་བཙན་པའི་ངོ་རྟགས་སྲོལ་བཟང་བཙུགས།།

Whatever temporal policies are
developed, His Majesty made sure that they don’t deviate from our spiritual
heritage, age-old tradition and culture, and discipline. He adopted this
approach as one of the most important identities of our nation that can protect
and promote our security and sovereignty for all times to come.To ensure security of nation, His Majesty
adopted the policy of one nation one people. Given the country’s size
and population, His Majesty realised that Bhutan has no strength that could
match external forces, and we cannot succeed in securing our sovereignty by
going into battlefields. Therefore, He Majesty emphasised that it is important
for us to implement one nation one people policy by unifying the people
of Bhutan, so that our sovereignty can be protected, and happiness is shone
forever in this country.

His Majesty tackled issues of
Tibetan immigrants in the north, and Lotshampas entry in the south very
diligently. To ensure the practical achievement of this policy of one nation
one people, He gave highest priority in protection and promotion of our
national language, national dress, and Drig-Lam-Namzhag. Through these
efforts, He adopted policy of the united people to ensure our security.

Dedication
Inscriptions

The following inscriptions are
placed on four faces of the throne of the Pillar.These inscriptions are dedicated to His
Majesty who possesses five wisdoms of suchness, awareness of sameness,
mirror-like awareness, investigative awareness, and accomplishing activities.

མ་འོངས་སྔོན་གཟིགས་སེང་གེའི་མཐུ་སྟོབས་ཅན།།

ང་རོ་ཅན་གྱི་སེང་གེའི་དཔའ་མཛངས་ཅན།།

སྐུ་སྲོག་བློས་བཏང་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཤ་ཞེན་ཅན།།

ཉི་ཟླའི་འོད་སྣང་འཆར་བའི་བྱང་སེམས་དངོས།།

These inscriptions recognise His
Majesty as the almighty visionary Singye, fearless Singye with the lion’s roar
possessing wisdom and strength to conquer and defeat external threat of all
kinds. He is also recognised as the ultimate patriot who sacrificed His
childhood and life in selfless service to the nation. People also believe and
recognise His Majesty as an extraordinary human-being who possesses kind heart
and the ability to end suffering of the people.

Stone Material

Traditionally, pillars in Bhutan
are made from wood. However, Her Royal Highness Ashi Sonam Dechan Wangchuck conceived
the idea of making this unique and very significant pillar made of stone to
commemorate His Majesty’s 60th Birth Anniversary celebration. The
stone used for making pillar is mint yellow sand stone. It is one of the most
exported stone materials in India. As per Indian architects, the colour of
stone is very soothing to mind, and delightful to work on. Similarly, as the
stone material is neither too hard nor too soft, it is confortable to work on
and it is very durable. The material is imported from Rajasthan, India, and the
work of stone art is outsourced to Laxmi Stone Art, based in Rajasthan, India.

Material Used: Sand Stone

Types of stones studied

Structure and
Measurement of the Pillar

The symbolism of the Pillar is
well described earlier. However, the height of the Pillar is exactly 16ft, and
this symbolises taking charge of pillar-like national responsibilities at the
age of sixteen. The design and inscriptions are adopted and composed to cover
His Majesty’s virtuous actions, the unprecedented achievement of national goals
and security, and happiness of the people. This Pillar is the result of over a
year research and efforts.

Consecration of the
Pillar

The Pillar has Zungs
placed inside, and is the tree of life of the campus. It has Chorten-like
significance, and people can worship and offer their prayers. Therefore, the
comprehensive consecration was conducted as per our traditional and religious
practice today on the 23rd October 2015.As the Pillar is a dedication
to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the consecration
was conducted coinciding with the auspicious day of His Majesty. The
consecration began with early morning purifying ritual followed by the Zhug-Dey-Phuensum-Tshogpa,
consecration ceremony, and was unveiled by the Her Majesty The Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck and Her Royal Highness Ashi Sonam Dechan Wangchuck.

The consecration and unveiling
program concluded with the recitation of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s Zhabten.

Royal Institute of Law folks posing for a group photo infront of the JSW Pillar after its successful consecration, with all other folks who were directly or indirectly involved in making the Royal Law Project a successful one. I am glad that I also got an opportunity to take part in this historic event.

~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~

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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I have posted this image four years ago on the joyous occasion of our Royal Wedding in 2011. I am re-posting it today on the very same day, same month but, 2015, yet, it still gives me that very same happiness and pride to re-post this picture. I am even more glad for I got this golden opportunity to design these badges four years for free distribution to most and at a reasonable price to others.

Many Tashi Delek to my King and Queen on this lovely day. Happy Fourth Anniversary la!!

Taken in October 2011 and re-posting today on 13th October, 2015,
on the joyous occasion of our Royal Wedding Anniversary.

Friday, October 9, 2015

It’s very natural not only with you, I, him or her but all
folks, where your energy level is very high at the beginning boosted by the thrill
of the show to begin. You give all your zest shouting at the top of your lungs,
no sooner did the show begin. Quite interestingly, a few minutes later you don’t
know how or why, but just like that, your thrill and energy drops to zero when
the folks you expect to fight don’t do so well. You cannot boo, but brood,
“Come on guys, you can do it!”

Yesterday, since 1 O’ clock folks were all
pumped up with energy, faces glowing like the October sun as they walked down
the temporarily blocked Chang Lam for motors. The national bi-colors worn on their
faces and the gestures spelled the same message, “Yes, today we should cheer.” And
so, our Dragon boys started to tango with the worthy Maldives at 6 PM BST.

Support was full on driven by the “support team Bhutan volunteers.”
The whole crowd sang along cheering. Even the small kid sitting next to me was
shouting at the piercing pitch, “Bhutan, Bhutan, Bhutan!” He knew only this
much, but his cheer showed how much he loved football and what Team Bhutan
meant. Sadly, when Maldives scored first
goal, second and the third, in the first half alone was suffice to quiet the
whole crowd. “Awww, they have started to play selfish,” folks started to shout.

The penalty, no sooner did the second half begin, made a few
to leave the stadium. Now situation like this is actually the time where circumstances
really test our love for the game and support for Team Bhutan. Simply adorning bi
colors on the cheek, singing some songs, clapping a few times at the beginning don’t
really make one a real supporter or a cheer leader. This is the time when we
should give our folks hope and courage to fight on.

If you wonder how cheering or singing songs actually helps
one to fight and gives her/him the hope. Then let me tell you this, it is scientifically
proven that when you cheer with positive attitude and hope, your heart generates
positive energy/vibes and the very magnetic field of this positive energy generated
by your heart can be felt and picked by another heart even from a few feet away.
Now, just imagine when the whole crowd in the stadium cheer with positive
attitude and love, the whole magnetic atmosphere of the stadium is filled with
the positive energy. This doesn’t mean opponents will not pick those positive vibes,
they surely will, but the impact will be felt more by those who are very much
in need of. In this case, it is our boys fighting with the weight of the nation
on their shoulder will pick the most.

Remember how they scored three consecutive goals in just 15
to 20 minutes? I know there were a lot happening behind the scene inside those
stalls, but it’s the collective positive energy and vibes every individual have
generated that actually boosted their will. And who is to know, had there been another
added 5 minutes our boys might have equalized also. Sadly, we ran out of time.

Not to be disheartened though, our dragon boys once again
won our hearts and more importantly we learnt, the positive impact of cheering with
positive attitude generates positive energy and that actually have impact on
others.

Next time around, wherever you go be it football,
basketball, archery, khuru, dancing, singing or even going for a walk, don’t ever
forget to be positive and smile. It actually generates an energy that will impact
your neighbor. Be negative and vice versa it is, you know how bad it can be.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Mani Khorlo is a container filled with Jewels of prayers that differs in numbers put inside and also the size. Mounted on a spindle to be turned in clockwise. It will generate positive merit and purify bad karma. The benefit is at par the oral recitation of the same prayer.

Its normally pieces of colorful cloths with prayers printed on them and strung high on grounds. The higher they are strung, more they will flutter. More they flutter, prayers are blown far and wide by the wind blessing the world. Its then, prayers riding the horse of the wind. On the course it uplifts your spirit and generates positive merits.

In short:

The simple act of raising or stringing them uplifts ones spirit. It will help one to embrace things more openly and positively.

P.S Later when you go for hiking or for a walk just like that on higher grounds, please take some ready to hoist Lungtas, which you get ample in town and hoist them. You dont have to believe, it simply uplifts your spirit. Its all about the positive energy and quantum physics. And, yes dont forget to turn some wheels too.

My Sun-ran Mini Mani Khorlo, taken in 2010.
It broke down and it is no more with me :(

I and my friend Rixin Jurmey, readying to take off after hoisting some Lung-tas,
en-route Jigmelangtsho, 4000 m, in early June 2012.

Life's just beautiful!!

Life is an art, you either just live, write, sing, paint, dance, or etc. as long as you love doing it, as long as it doesn't hurt others sentiment and your own peace of mind, then keep doing it. One day you will look back and say, "This is my story. My life."

I am a Bhutanese Blogger, not to change the world but, to change myself.